Magical Cures for Medical Maladies

[Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer]

No: HPFGUIDX 192

Hi --

Rita Winston wrote:

> Digression: Why on earth did she have acne while alive, why would
> ANYONE at Hogwarts have acne? Madam Pomfrey can remove the  much more
> serious problem of boils easily enough, so why doesn't she just issue
> all students a bar or bottle of magic anti-acne soap that they wash
> their faces with once in the morning and any pimples go away and don't
> come back.)

This ties in with the why would any wizard need to wear glasses (why
can't they just fix Harry's eyesight)?  I probably haven't thought this
through quite enough yet, but . . . . I wonder if it might be that in
order for there to be a magical *cure* for something, the initial
problem had to be *caused by* magic in the first place.  For example,
Harry's arm was deboned but Pomfrey fixed it with "Skele-Grow" (clearly
a magical remedy!).  That problem could be fixed by magic because it was
Lockhart's failed magic that caused the problem in the first place.

Of course, I can contradict my own theory easily enough by remembering
that Madame Pomfrey says she can mend bones in a matter of minutes (and
she does with Neville).  But, is this because the accidents occurred on
school grounds whilst learning magic???

Any takers on this wild & crazy theory???  Like I said -- it was a spur
of the moment thought -- I haven't considered all examples so I'll
probably be proven wrong quickly enough.  <g>

Penny



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